Poverty Watch 5

Welcome to Poverty watch, a weekly update on the National government’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. A lot of background issues and links are set out in Poverty Watch onetwo and three.

Right-wingers really don’t like the issue of poverty being in the spotlight. If you have a strong stomach you can read Rodney Hide for a view form the dark ages (Rodney shares his wisdom on how all kids are poor because none of them have money, and the wonders of bone broth soup for lunch). John Roughan has a whinge about the excellent John Campbell / 3 News focus on poverty, pleading “Save us from one-sided TV” (John would rather watch his hero Paul Holmes than see poor people messing up his telly).

I have been very impressed with 3 News. On this issue at least, they are trying to rise above the drivel of commercial “news” and use the power of their pulpit for real journalism – journalism to comment on important issues and effect social change. From the screening of Inside Child Poverty last year, to their current focus on school lunches and Kidscan, it has all been good work. “Television blogger” Paul Casserly responds to Roughan’s attack:

The Herald’s John Roughan took Campbell Live to task for pushing the poor barrow […] worrying that the show’s much talked about school-lunch story was the beginning of a slippery socialistic slope. “If school meals become a new entitlement, very hard to contain, it will be a costly triumph for one-sided television.”

Undeterred, Campbell Live kept up the one-sided attacks on poverty throughout the week. They wheeled out experts who droned on but made good sense. They even made financial sense. Spend money on kids now, and we’ll save big-time on health and crime in the future.

On Tuesday’s show, they featured two women from the Manawatu who were hell-bent on making lunches for their local down-at-heel school. Their venison shepherd’s pie wouldn’t have been put of place on My Kitchen Rules.

Tonight (Friday), the leftie running dogs of Campbell Live are running a campaign to raise money for the Kidscan charity. They reckon that they can feed 15,000 hungry kids for $1.8 million a year.

As the champagne socialist in chief said on the show on Tuesday: “It’s a start and it’s better than doing nothing.”

Speaking of Kidscan, you can go to their website to sign up and help out – check out the Campbell Live Lunchbox Day here, here, or here. Text Lunch to 8595 to make a $3 donation, or donate via KidsCan Charitable Trust: ASB BANK 12 3026 0348180 03.

Poverty Watch always ends with the following list, the National government’s response to rising poverty in NZ:

Shonkey can help a few hundred people on the Chatham islands for a publicity stunt!
But 270,00o children in poverty what problem its their own fault tough they can just stay poor for the rest of their lives their parents shouldn’t be aloud to have sex or breed!
Michael laws the philandering FWIT!

National is hellbent on turning our welfare system into a safety net model and, like the US, the govt will have no choice but to feed kids at school. With President Key, and his deputies English and Banks at the helm we’re on course to becoming a mini America with all it’s assosiated social ills. The underclass are being shat on from all angles. Something will give eventually.

Henry should write commedy with John Banks (It’s been done before and better I might add) ….
“Two Babies in their Prams, going “Yeah Naaaaah M8!”” going for a visit too their M8!’s place “Shon K’K Key”
Add the “Mama’s” dialogue for a bit of reality.

Tonight (Friday), the leftie running dogs of Campbell Live are running a campaign to raise money for the Kidscan charity. They reckon that they can feed 15,000 hungry kids for $1.8 million a year.
As the champagne socialist in chief said on the show on Tuesday: “It’s a start and it’s better than doing nothing.”

Is this sneering or pointed satire by this Paul Casserly?

One thing that can be added to the question at the bottom of the post is –
When will National decide on a money amount to be the poverty line floor, for individuals and families? (With an amount that would be added for each child – children’s requirements would vary, in 5-year brackets, cheaper to keep toddlers than teenagers in food, clothes and kit required)

And this floor to be researched by appropriate university teams such as Otago that used to do a food basket cost survey, and compared with work done by Treasury and a reasoned decision that was inflation adjusted with a special measure added to allow for separate housing inflation movement.

How many of you read Michael Cox;s outragious colunm last week. What a slimy bastard Running down all who are not in the “class” of his rich mates. Im sick to death of his type.Their belief in low wages cut backs in working conditions and their embracement of unemployment are typical of his sort of wealthy parasites.

It is shame on the Government that charities are obliged to come to the rescue of children living in poverty. But Key and his cohorts are only too happy to let this be. Sure, the charities are essential and doing a great job. But the Government should be doing its bit too.

This must be the most callous government we ever had. May it rest in hell.

While this is true doing something is better than doing nothing and labour haven’t covered themselves in glory in the recent past on this one.
Campbell’s highlighting of the issue is what’s needed as the Lame stream media are brushing it under the carpet.

With all respect, what Campbell did on his show last week does more appear to be a double purpose effort, one to actually support a charity feeding hungry school kids, but at the same time intensively “marketing” his show and his profile. I am sure the ratings went up and more advertising revenue will flow from this.

It is a worry when NZers must increasingly rely on charity for meeting essential needs, be this for kids going hungry, homeless left on waiting lists at Housing NZ, future beneficiaries to rely on outsourced “service providers” to help them find work. This is “american” or “US” style “welfare”, which is all part of the agenda to dismantle the so far state supported welfare system.

And what are 250,000 dollars going to achieve. Fair enough, it is appreciated, and hopefully will provide lunches to school kids. But say a lunch costs about $ 3 a head, that is 83,333 meals for how many thousands of kids? It may last for a couple of weeks to feed the most needy, and what comes after that?

We have a government offering unaffordable tax cuts to the ones on higher incomes, at the same time hiking GST, which affects middle and low income earners more, thus re-distribute wealth from bottom to top, and then rely on Campbell Live and Kidscan to feed the hungry school-children of parents struggling to pay rents, mortgages, growing utility costs and so. What about increasing the minimum wage perhaps?

I totally agree but I would have felt worse if Campbell had done the programmes and the public didn’t respond at all. What was interesting was the lack of knowledge about poverty in our own backyards particularly by the kids in the decile 10 / private schools. Why are they so ignorant? Because their parents are ignorant? Or their parents are milking the system as it is and don’t want to raise the consequences of this? Or the parents are justifying the tougher times “it’s the economy” etc.
However despite this, their kids wanted to do something and I think – maybe we should change our voting laws to ages 18 years and below and remove us adults from the picture altogether

“What was interesting was the lack of knowledge about poverty in our own backyards particularly by the kids in the decile 10 / private schools.”

Its pretty difficult to have an understanding of socio-economic conditions throughout NZ when you are young. I grew up in a Christian family and believed that everyone ignored God, rather than simply not believing that God was real. Those kids probably think that other kids parents can’t afford top quality shoes, but I doubt they’d even consider that parent’s can’t afford food.
For decile 10 kids, food is there, when they want it, its not something that warrants questioning. Just like how Trotter stated that even adults in NZ have the same blind spot due to a life of privilege.

“maybe we should change our voting laws to ages 18 years and below and remove us adults from the picture altogether”

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